Expert: Norman Auspitz - 1/22/2012

Question
QUESTION: We have two Bengal tigers, male is a silver Bengal born 11th march 2008 and the female is a gold Bengal born 22nd august 2007. Both de-sexed before we got them. We picked up Domino (male) mid December 2010 where he came from a cattery so nobody had ever handled him before. My partner took time out to be with him every night up until Christmas to get him to a stage where he would let you pat him and not want to bite you. Then we got the girl, Jaguar. She was a real bully. Bullied Domino around, attacked him whenever she felt like it, and made his life hell. Domino then started to mark his territory inside whenever they were let in for the night from their outdoor pen. We would tell him off and put them both straight outside when caught in the middle of the act but more often than not we just found the evidence so they both went outside when this was found. We put all the smell gone products and odour eating products all over the place but he still would mark his territory when let inside. Now when they are not allowed inside he pee's up against the door to inside and sprays everywhere, poos all over the place and refuses to use his litter tray as Jaguar is using it. Even when we have more than 1 litter tray in the pen. The pen is a massive outdoor snake proof pen on the veranda so they have loads of room with shelves and hiding spots everywhere. We tried to seperate them for a night but they would meow to each other till we had to put them both in the same pen again. Domino now stands up for himself and boxes Jaguar around the ears sometimes just for the fun of it but he's still eliminating in the wrong spot. This is very frustrating and extremely smelly as the pen is right beside the front door of the house. What can we do to stop him doing this and how do we make them both use the litter tray?! The trays are cleaned daily.

ANSWER: Bianca,

I have pondered this for quite a while and have no easy answers. I am assuming you have had them both checked for intestinal parasites, impacted anal glands, urinary tract infections and the like.

It sounds to me as if they are literally into a "pissing" contest.  Someone is marking and the other is over marking the territory.

What you would need to do is to really clean things very, very well and try over again.  Sometimes aluminum foil fastened over an area they like to spray will inhibit spraying on the aluminum foil.

In addition, are you using the same type of litter they were raised on?  Often a change in litter can make them not want to use the litter pan.  So, going back to the litter they were raised on might help.

In addition, there is a product by a company known as Dr. Elsey's called Cat Attract.  I do not know if you can get it in Queensland, but it might help some.

How many litter trays do you have?  You should have at least 2 pans if Domino is picky!!!!!

What I do know is that there is no known cat repellant that does work!!!!!!!!!

Every once in a while, you can put a litter pan non the spot he eliminates and, possibly, he will get the right idea.

There is a pheremone based spray called Feliway that may give some relief in these situations, but I suspect, in the outdoor pen, it would be ineffective as it would be diluted too muc.

Please let me know if any of this helps out.  Unfortunately, this kind of problem really needs to be dealt with very early on, or it might become an ingrained habit.

Best regards... Norm.






---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Norm,
Domino was perfectly fine until we got Jaguar. Domino grew up in a cattery so isn’t used to other cats or even people, so we figured he was protesting and marking his territory. Jaguar uses the litter tray with no problems as far as we are aware. We spray the areas with smell gone odour control http://smellgone.com.au/ and then alternate with diluted sprayed bleach so the smell is really gone but that doesn’t make any difference.
When we take them away from each other they whinge as they are now like husband and wife but yet this is still happening with the problem.

Not sure what they were brought up on but they have always had saw dust as it masks the smell a lot better than kitty litter and he was fine with it until Jaguar came.

What exactly does Cat Attract do? We have a spray which makes them all lovey dovey and have planted some cat nip but we don’t use the spray anymore as he is lovey dovey and they turn their noses up at cat nip. Such fussy cats.

I’ve gone out and brought 2x really long trays to go up against the back wall where he spray7s which is nowhere near the litter tray usually and I’ve covered it with saw dust and looking out there now I see somebody has poo’d in there but then kicked it out along with ½ the saw dust so it’s back on the floor along with the trays being pushed aside.

We thought it would calm down and nobody (vets) could give any insight but I have contacted this site a year ago when I needed help with my pig so I thought I’d try this with the Bengals.

Thanks Norm for your time.

Answer
Bianca,

Cat attract can be sprinkled in the litter pan with your normal litter and it tends to make the cat want to do its business where you have sprinkled it.

Rather than use diluted bleach, you might try white vinegar.

The problem is that, initially, Domino was upset when Jaguar arrived and marking is a way of expressing it. Even though you have cleaned it, and you can not smell it does not mean the cat does not smell it.  Cats have much better senses of smell than we do.

Except for ripping everything out and trying all over again, I am not sure what else to suggest.

Best regards... Norm.